Stats reveal how valuable Dupont is for France

STAT ATTACK: Scrumhalf Antoine Dupont has played an integral role in France's rise over the last few years and he is now widely regarded as the world's best player.

Therefore, it came as no surprise that the injury he picked up in the World Cup pool match against Namibia dominated rugby headlines around the world.

Dupont underwent surgery on a fractured cheekbone on Friday and he is set to return to the squad in the next few days.

However, it is not clear when he will be able to return to the pitch in the World Cup.

He is in a race against time to be able to play in France's final pool game against Italy on October 6 with a potential quarterfinal against reigning champions South Africa or even Ireland looming on the weekend of October 14-15.

Looking at the statistics since the last World Cup in 2019, you can understand why France will be so desperate to get him back onto the field.

Since the 2019 event, France has won 27 of the 31 games when Dupont has started for an 87 percent win percentage.

Without Dupont, the French have a 64 percent win percentage.

In terms of time spent on the field since 2019, Dupont has far superior figures than the other scrumhalves in the French squad. Baptiste Couilloud has played 523 minutes and Maxime Lucu has 428 minutes to his name.

Dupont comes in with a massive figure of 2224 minutes played.

Looking at the overall stats since the 2019 World, which includes all nations, Dupont finds himself on top of the list for kicks in play, try assists, offloads and line-break assists.

See those figures below:

Additional source: AFP